Walking these Gray Roads, Meeting Friends On The Way
by Thousandsmiles
Summary: It's a crossroads where they meet, at that time when the world is more gray shadow and no one else dares to come out of their safe shells. "Derek Hale." "Scott McCall." "Stiles Stilinski. Werewolves right?" The pack meets each other in a different way. AU. No slash. *Now with sequel!*


**Alright a brand new teen wolf fic! Hope you guys enjoy. It's a little strange but I'll hope you guys understand it by the end. I guess what I wanted to with this one was show the pack meeting in a different circumstance than on the show. I might do few sequels with this universe if I feel so inclined.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.**

* * *

It's a crossroads where they meet, at that time when the world is more gray shadow and no one else dares to come out of their safe shells. They stand looking at each other through near-dead eyes, taking in the other two persons, reading them, dissecting them in their minds. They stand there, just watching until they know all that they can. Then the oldest of them shifts and says,

"Derek Hale."

The other one says simply, "Scott McCall."

They look at each other and then turn to look at the third who eyes them for a moment more before saying, "Stiles Stilinski." He pauses for another moment before adding, "Werewolves right?"  
They both nod in response to his question. There is another moment that would have been awkward any other time, but isn't here. Then they draw together and Stiles says," I guess the only question is where do we go from here."

"Nothing back the way I came," says Derek.

"Since I was heading the way you came from, I guess not that way," says Scott.

"It's not safe the way I came," Stiles shrugs. They all turn to look at the one direction left and then back at each other. Then they shrug and begin to walk west. They never say when they agree to stick together.

It isn't a cross roads but a corner when they meet the next one. It's that time of the night though, where there's not enough light and not enough dark and so damn scary. He is lying on the side of the road, covered in blood from cuts that have already healed. Derek and Scott pull him up and he looks at them bleary-eyed and wary. Still after a moment he says, "Isaac Lahey," and lets Derek and Scott carry him until he can walk for himself. Stiles helpfully feeds him little pieces of a sandwich while they drag him down the road, to help him get his strength back. Day comes and the four of them fade from existence until the sun goes down and they can travel again.

Isaac is shy and he doesn't feel comfortable traveling the gray roads the werewolves and other preternaturals can. He doesn't even know how he got here in the first place. He is understandably confused at Stiles presence. The human boy shouldn't be here but Scott simply smiles when he asks because Stiles is more wolf than any human had right to be.

They travel together for what feels like a long time and simultaneously like one night before they add to their little group again. It's the same time of the night, the gray twilight tucked away in night, when they find her by a broken bridge, leaning against what's left of the railing, her back to the wreckage.

"Allison," she says and she doesn't look at any of them, she can't, but her footsteps fall in time with theirs and that's enough. Allison isn't human, or rather that's not all she is, but she's something that allows to her to be here and she walks with wolves. That's enough too.

She fades away with the rest of them when the sun comes up. Reappears with them when it goes down like it's the easiest thing in the world. She is strong but her eyes glitter with crystalline tears of sorrow or anger alternatively.

Scott links his hand with hers when he thinks she needs strength and Isaac and Stiles occasionally do the same. She's the one who touches Derek first. It's brief but she grips his hand just for a moment when it looks like he would disappear into the shadows and never come back and he stays. Scott keeps his shoulder against Derek's for the rest of their journey that night and Stiles keeps an arm around Allison and she leans into his hold. Isaac is the watch for night.

The next one they find is standing at the side of the road hands clenched, blood dripping from his fists, eyes closed while he takes in deep breaths. When he finally looks at them his eyes are gold.

"Werewolf?" Stiles asks, hoping to get a sarcastic retort that might break the guy's episode.

He gets a "Hah! That's for everyone else." When Derek gives him a questioning look he says, "Kanima." and looks like he wants to kill himself.

"Oh," says Allison, "Why?" And it doesn't sound unkind.

"Adopted," he says shortly.

"What's a kanima?" asks Stiles and Derek answers:

"A wolf who lost his way. Doesn't have enough of himself." And they all understand.

"What does it look like?" asks Isaac.

"A lizard," says Derek, "With paralytic poison."

"Cool," says Scott. And Stiles nods.

The guy looks at them suspiciously but then after a moment he sees that they're real.

"Jackson Whitmore," he says.

(Because he does care if they're real. And they see him and they care.)

They learn soon enough that Jackson hates if anyone tries to tell him what to do. They learn soon enough that what he really hates is if anyone tries to control him. He isn't the best decision maker though. It's a good thing that Allison is so great at subtle manipulation and Stiles is excellent at blatant manipulation. Together they keep Jackson from self destructing and Derek holds on to Jackson that one time he lost control and talked him back down even while Jackson was digging his claws into his arms. It was pretty amazing even if Scott and Isaac had to drag Derek around for the rest of the night until the sun came up.

The other one they find running, developing into view like an old Polaroid photo, when the night gives them that frightening shade of gray, like old death. She is recently turned, they can see that and she tries to fight them but she is so new to her new body, she barely does any harm.

Derek holds her down and Stiles soothes her. Her hair is wild and frizzy and she is in an old gray dress. Her feet are bare. Scott questions her gently while Isaac and Jackson stand guard in case what was chasing her comes through. Allison takes one of her hands and brushes away the frost clinging to her hair.  
It takes awhile for her to believe that they are the good guys but eventually she does.

"I'm Erica Reyes," she sniffs. "I want to go home."

"Home's not safe right now," Derek tells her apologetically. "Walk with us awhile. Then go back."  
She looks at him suspiciously and then nods. They get her to her feet and keep her there while they cross the potential danger spot.

Over the next few nights Erica changes dramatically in looks. She is healthy and strong and beautiful. Allison enjoys having another girl to talk with. Erica learns fast and soon she'll probably be able to go home. They don't mention it though and she never does. Eventually they forget that she's supposed to go. She conveniently does so. Home only holds two divorced parents who barely see each other and were only living in the same place because they wanted to give her a stable home. It was funny though because they never had time for her anyway. She thinks she's found her home right here in this strange world she's walking.

The next one they come across they don't actually meet for some time. They all hear her screams though. It shatters though their little world, even waking them during the day. It is when this happens that they catch glimpses of her; a short girl with strawberry blonde hair, a sharp look in her eyes, who has fright and loneliness swirling around her.

Soon sometimes they have her form walking along theirs in the night like a dainty shadow for awhile before fading away. She isn't where they are. Not yet.

It's a gray night overall, wrought with shadows creeping on the edges, and that time of the night is more frightening than usual. It doesn't help when they hear her tearing scream again, more terrifying than usual. She is screaming for her own death and they know it.

They feel her fear before she comes. She's been terrified of the shadows that linger around the edges of her gaze for ages now and now she is plunging into them. She comes on in a crossroads just ahead of them and falls to her knees gasping for breath.

She startles when she sees them and tries to run but is too tired to get far. Scott and Allison go after her while Jackson and Stiles cover them. Derek and Erica and Isaac remain behind to guard from what she running from.

Scott and Allison find her collapsed, with tears running down her face because she thinks she's dead, dead or insane. She doesn't say the 'finally' but they hear it.  
"Hey," Allison tells her, "Hey it's okay. You're safe here. We won't let anything hurt you, I promise."

"Yeah," Scott tells her. He cracks a grin and says, "We're the good guys."

"I'm not dead?" asks Lydia voice wavering as she watches from one to the other.

"Nope," says Allison cheerfully, "This is the place to go to when people like us need to run. Or heal."

"It's not safe," Scott adds truthfully, "But it's easier to run here. And we keep each other safe."

"I'm not crazy?" she asks finally.

"No," says Allison, "You just see the world."

And seems the right thing to say. She wipes her eyes and uses the bottom edge of her dress to scrub away the mascara. Then she holds out her hands to them for them to pull her up. They take her hands and pull her up and she drops them and says, "Lydia Martin. And if you keep me from dying tonight I'll appreciate it."

They do keep her alive that night and the night afterwards and the nights after that. Lydia keeps them entertained with random facts and she is brilliant. She and Stiles hit it off because they finally have someone to talk to who is on their level.

Erica and Isaac and Derek argue about comic characters the entire time. Jackson joins them when Derek says that Doctor Doom couldn't beat the Hulk.

Scott and Allison are talking Star Wars in that Allison is repeating in detail each of the six movies. They've finally reached the fourth one.

"Thank heavens," Stiles mutters in the background.

At the next crossroads they come across in the creepy time of night they find another person. He's sitting in the crossroads, apparently contemplating his life. He looks at them for awhile and says, "Is it worth it?"

And Erica answers, "Absolutely."

He's a new werewolf too. He chose it. Then second-guessed his choice. He doesn't know how he reached where he was but he wasn't ready to go back from where he came.

"Vernon Boyd," he says and comes with them.

Boyd is quiet but loves to have fun. He enjoys the little things in life and Derek secretly thinks he should have never chosen to be a werewolf because his life would have been so good without the trouble being a werewolf can bring.

They all like his steadiness though and he enjoys just being with them. Boyd doesn't know when he'll ever be ready to leave them.

They don't lose track of how long they've been there in those gray roads but at the same time they kinda do. They don't need to eat as often there. Once every few weeks they will feel the urge to eat. When that happens one of them stay for the sunrise and go out to buy food. They have a handful of cell phones they've bought over the years to keep up with the advances in technology and the news. They don't google themselves though. They don't want to know.

They are comfortable here, just walking, eating, chatting or just staying silent. They are healing here, becoming confident here, still running here. It's difficult for them to get past things in the past. Scott still has anger and authority issues, Jackson still requires manipulation for his own good, though less than before, Derek still kind of fades a bit on some days, Stiles still becomes withdrawn and dark eyed, Allison still had bad days when she keeps everyone a bay and a bow and quiver, (occasionally chinese ring daggers) flicker in and out of sight. Lydia still grabs onto people just to assure herself they are there.  
Body still regrets and Erica is afraid she'll wake up some day and it will all be a dream. Isaac still flinches when someone yells, even if it's not at him.

But they work together in one cohesive unit, they comfort and cherish each other, Isaac doesn't back down from confrontations and Stiles has learned some sort of self preservation if only because that his death would compromise the safety of others. Scott grows into a mature leader and Jackson and Allison into ruthless tacticians. Lydia into an insightful detective along with Stiles. Erica becomes a forceful fighter and skilled at cheering up her friends when they are down. Boyd puts his little military training to good use and becomes a force to be reckoned with both physically and mentally. He keeps the peace when everyone is too angry to keep their heads. Derek grows into a leader whose first answer to every problem isn't violence. He learns to care, though he's still bad at showing it.

It feels like a few months after Boyd joins them that they find themselves at another cross roads in that place that's just all gray but promises permanent black. A man is standing there waiting for him. He has dark skin and no hair. When they reach him he smiles widely at them and says, "Haven't you been running long enough?"

Derek says he's a druid. Someone who advises the preternatural people and they are mostly linked to wolf packs. They stand and confer with each other in whispers while Deaton waits for them. They're not comfortable with leaving yet but Derek has begun to think that if they don't leave they might never. Scott looks like he knows it too. Stiles just gives a single nod. The others agree to go soon enough and so when the sun comes upon, they don't fade away, they wait for the bright of day and then they're out, blinking in the sunrise and looking around them.

They're on the side of a road next to a forest of some sort. Derek snorts when he sees where they are but his eyes hold sadness.

They huddle together to figure out what to do. Allison needs a last name. She's never told them what was hers and they don't think she ever will. She was a hunter. They know that now, they figured it out ages ago. She has chosen to walk with wolves though.

She says it'll be easy to change her name. She's never kept her real one of paper anyway. She uses their smartphone to change it and then bites her lip and goes over to Derek. She whispers a question in his ear and the wolves politely don't listen. He turns to look at her properly and then slowly nods. She nods back in thank and returns back to her work on the phone. When she's done Derek jerks his head to tell them to follow.

"This way," he tells them and begin walking down the road, leading them towards town. Them being Derek the born wolf whose past bears flame and ashes, Scott the made-against-his-will wolf, Stiles the human whose too wolf to be human, Allison the Hunter girl who chooses wolves over her heritage, Jackson the boy who hasn't found himself, Isaac the boy who was abused, Erica the girl who was given the bite as a lure for her body, Boyd the boy who made a choice he hadn't known how to live with, Lydia the banshee who'd been afraid of the dark. They were an odd set but they were a pack. Out here in the sunlight of a new morning they knew, knew they were a pack.

* * *

Four years ago Stiles went missing after the gruesome death of his best friend. His father spent the first of those years looking for him. He spent the next year at the bottom of a bottle, grieving his son. The third year he cleaned up his act and at the beginning of the fourth year he was moved and promoted to be the Sheriff of Beacon Hills.

He took to the job and did it well. He made friends with the nurse next door who had moved into Beacon Hills a few months ago, who had a missing child as well and felt like she needed the change of place. His department liked him and he made sure not to touch a bottle again. Occasionally he broke down in his room crying for his dead wife and lost, most likely dead son. Then he pulled himself up and moved on.

Six months into his new job he was doing an early morning patrol along the preserve road when he spotted what looked like a bunch of teenagers walking down the side of the road. It was a generally lonely road and pretty long and he wondered if something had happened to their car or if they were a bunch of troublemakers coming back from making trouble in the restricted part of the preserve.

He honked them and pulled alongside them.

"Hey you kids okay?" he asked, watching them.

One of them, a young man, older than the rest, answered:

"Yes, we're fine officer. We're just going back to town."

The Sherriff narrowed his eyes. He was pretty sure he had never seen any of these kids before and chances are he would have seen at least one of them before. He eyed the group and then said:

"Well why don't I give some of you a drop? It's a long walk back to town and I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind not walking the distance."

"We're fine," a girl with long dark hair answered, smiling at him, "We like the exercise."

"Are you sure?" the Sherriff pressed, "Besides wouldn't your parents be getting worried by now? By the looks of things you all have been out all night and it's Tuesday. You should be heading to school."

She gave a little laugh and one of the others, a strawberry blonde, opened her mouth to fill in for them but the Sherriff parked his car properly and said, "Why don't you kids tell me what's really going on? And while you're at it, tell me your names too."

The group of kids looked at each other nervously and then the oldest one said, "I'm Derek Hale."

"Allison Hale, said the dark haired girl firmly.

"Lydia Martin," said the strawberry blonde.

"Scott McCall," said a boy with dark hair, and broad shoulders, who had the name of Mellissa's missing son and some of her features.

"Isaac Lahey," said another boy, quietly, who had curly hair and a lanky frame.

"Jackson Whitmore," said a boy crisply, with sharp features and fair skin.

"Erica Reyes," said the last girl, twirling her blonde hair around her finger.

"Vernon Boyd," said the big, buff boy whose name was the only one the Sherriff recognized because Vernon Boy had gone missing a few months ago.

Then Boyd shifted so the Sherriff could get a good look at the one remaining person.

The boy looked at him and smiled slightly, "Stiles Stilinski," he said, "Hey dad." And the Sherriff didn't know if his world had stopped spinning or started back again.

When the Sherriff had finally managed to unwrap Stiles from his arms he called backup to pick up all the teens. They were currently in the Sherriff station being processed. All of them were missing people. Allison and Derek were the only two who were apparently related. Cousins they claimed. Allison was the daughter of Derek's uncle. She had been homeschooled by her mother and when the mother died a few years ago, the two of them had been travelling together.

The rest of Derek's family were dead, burned to death in their house right here in Beacon Hills, with the exception of his uncle and sister. The sister had turned up dead years ago but Derek had been in an entirely different city at the time. New York to be exact.

Scott had disappeared almost four years ago as well with no apparent reason from the state of Kansas. His mother had woken up to him gone and he had never returned or communicated with her. The Sherriff really didn't know how to tell Melissa that he had found her son over the phone. Scott was worried about his mom though. And when he found out she was here he desperately wanted to go see her.

Stiles' case he knew intimately.

Boyd's case was similar to Scott's. He had had a few days of weird behaviour and then disappeared. No contact came from him and he was worried about his family.

Erica followed the pattern of Scott and Boyd with the exception that she had run away from a hospital in DC she'd been admitted to for epilepsy. She looked extremely different and she seemed very healthy. She'd had a problem home though. She'd been gone for about three and a half years.

Jackson had disappeared from New York city much in the same way as Scott and Boyd. He was rich and didn't do drugs. Was an excellent lacrosse player and had much going for him.

Isaac had been reported missing by his school in Chicago. The things the police found in the house said that the boy had, had good reason to run away. The father had been arrested.

Lydia had disappeared from LA. And she had had a few reports of unstable psyche but by her school records, she was brilliant. She had seemed afraid for a few weeks before her disappearance and her parents were sure she'd been kidnapped.

None of them would tell him where they'd been. Travelling they had said down to man, or woman, but none of them would say anything about which towns they had passed through or anything. There was money drawn during the time period mostly from Derek's, Allison's, Jackson's and Lydia's account. Scott and Stiles' own account were mostly empty. So was Isaac's and Boyd's. Erica didn't have an account. He pressed but they wouldn't say. The Sherriff had to call all their parents and also take them to the hospital to make sure they were all okay.

While his deputies called the parents, the Sherriff went with the kids, to the hospital. Although calling them kids was wrong. They were all mostly adults now, but they didn't look it. That was the one strange thing (out of the myriad of strange things) that kept ringing at the Sherriff. Stiles looked almost the same. Sure he looked more muscular, a tad bit taller, but that was it. There was no other mark that four years had passed. He didn't look like he'd spent four years on the road either, none of them did. Most of them looked like the pictures that had been supplied at the reports. The Sherriff had seen kids who enter high school and came out four years later looking noticeably different as they grew older. All of them did in some way or the other.

Stiles had grown, but not physically, not a lot, and that bugged the Sherriff. It bugged him a lot. Almost as much as the fact that his own son wouldn't give an explanation that was four years coming. While he was thinking all these thoughts the kids were being checked out one by one and then the doctor proclaimed them all in perfect heath, even the severe asthmatic and the epileptic.

The Sherriff told them to stay in the examination rooms for a few minutes and then called Melissa who was on shift. She came up looking confused as to why he was invading on her shift. He made her sit down and then said softly:

"Melissa, I came upon a bunch of missing persons today."

"Alright," she said looking confused, "That's good. Have you contacted their families yet?"

"Yes, the deputies are doing that now," he paused, "And so am I."

She looked confused for a moment before she understood and her hands flew up to her mouth and her eyes filled with hope.

"Scott?" she whispered, staring at him.

In response he turned his head and called to the examination rooms, "Scott would you come out here please?"

Scott came out looking for him. His gaze found him and then froze when he also spotted his mother. They both stayed frozen for a moment longer and then Scott was running towards his mother and Mellissa was standing up and moving to meet him. They embraced fiercely, both crying, and slowly sank to the floor, arms still wrapped around each other.

The Sherriff looked away from the clearly intimate scene and found his gaze locked with Stiles'. After a moment Stiles moved slowly from the doorway of the examination room and then came over to him and hugged him, clinging to his jacket. The Sherriff hugged him back feeling tears come out of his eyes and then tighten his hold on his son who was also now sobbing into his jacket.

A loud screech announced the arrival of Vernon Boyd's parents and he rushed to meet them.

When the Sherriff composed himself he watched Melissa fire a bunch of questions at Scott none of which were actually meant to be answered and then she wrung his ears and kissed him and hugged him again like she never wanted to let go.

It took awhile before she noticed him and then who was standing at his side.

"Is that…?" she began, "Is that Stiles?"

"Yes," he answered and she let out a little laugh and began crying all over again. She grabbed Stiles and hugged him too much to the amusement of Scott and the Stiles' surprise. The Sherriff looked over to where the rest of the kids were standing, smiling, a little sadly in some cases, at their friends.

Scott took his mom's arm and carried her over to where they were and began the introductions.

* * *

All in all it took a few weeks for everything to be sorted out. All the living parents except Isaac's were finally reunited with their kids. Another problem instantly became apparent when none of the kids whose parents didn't live in Beacon Hill refused to move. Since they were legal adults they could stay if they wanted to. Their friends were in Beacon Hills, they were staying in Beacon Hills. Jackson's father would have forcibly carried him away but Jackson threatened to disappear again.

Lydia told her parents that she thought she felt much less stressed in a smaller town and that for her continued mental health they should let her stay and won that battle quite neatly. Allison and Derek had gotten a loft in town where they were both living quiet happily and where other members of their little group disappeared to, whenever they needed to. Isaac lived there with them as well.

Erica's parent had gotten divorced in her absence and both wanted her to live with them. They argued so much about it that Erica told them in succulent terms that she wanted nothing to do with them anymore and went to live in the Hale loft.

Jackson discovered that his birth parents used to be from Beacon Hills and somehow used that to get his parents to relocate to Beacon Hills. The Sherriff wasn't so clear on how.

And when that was all settled the kids all voted that they wanted to go back to school. High school in particular. Stile's insisting that he wanted to have a high school experience instead of just writing the test for and having a GED. All the others, minus Derek, who had a GED agreed and the Sherriff got a new headache.

Turns out there isn't a law against eighteen and nineteen year olds going to high school and so come September they were all going back to school, including Boyd who had to repeat his senior year but would still finish before the rest of them who were restarting in their sophomore year.

* * *

And so they went back to school minus Derek who got a job as a bouncer in a bar to keep himself from getting bored. They had thought it would take them awhile for them to get their feet under them but they hit the ground running instead. Jackson, Isaac, Scott and Stiles tried out for lacrosse and got in. Lydia, Allison and Eric took the school by storm and had boys drooling over from day one. They got along with most of their peers and id well in their classes. They lied to their peers about their real ages because it would be very awkward to explain. Besides it didn't feel like four years to them. Time was nebulous thing in the gray roads and while they had known years had passed, it didn't feel like years to them. It never did. Stiles didn't feel eighteen, Scott either.

Alison didn't feel nineteen. She did feel like a Hale though. Derek never made her feel unwelcome although she knew, they all knew, what a great deal it had been for him to give her, a hunter, his name for her own, when hunters had killed his whole family. She appreciated it with her whole being.

Stiles, Scott and Boyd all had to endure the whole awkwardness of trying to fit back into a home you had left a long time ago. Boyd had it much easier though. Scott and Stiles struggled and their parents struggled and they all tried to work around each other. It helped that their parents were friends and that they were friends.

It took a few months but things finally came to a point where they could begin to grow again, even if both parents were frustrated that neither of them would say where they'd been. Stiles is pretty sure his dad thinks he was off being a criminal and it's kind of amusing. He put up with all the Sherriff's demands about texting his location to him because he knows it can't have been easy on his father. He knew his dad must have thought that they would find his body like his friend's. And he can't think about how that must have felt like. He doesn't regret running though. It had kept his dad safe and kept him from falling apart.

Derek doesn't quite know how he feels about being in Beacon Hills again. He's wary but understandably so. They all are. He has the pack though and they help each other out.

Scott and Allison eventually begin dating and everyone is happy for them. Jackson makes friends with a guy who doesn't care that Jackson doesn't know who he is because he pretty much likes him for whoever he is right now and doesn't see that changing in the foreseeable future. That helps Jackson stabilize a bit too. The Kanima seeks a master but Jackson seems to have chosen the whole pack as his master and so none of them actually control him. He listens to pack directive like the rest of them do. And that helps too. (What doesn't help is that Danny is afraid of lizards. But Jackson just says, "Nobody can be perfect. Excepting me of course." And goes to meet Danny to study.)

Lydia isn't so afraid of the dark anymore and anyway she knows what lives there now and some of the scariest monsters are her best friends. She is a monster too she finds out, when Derek tells her about banshees. So she belongs there. It helps to know that.

Scott get s a job with the mysterious Druid/veterinarian who owns the local animal clinic. He loves working there because Scott is big softy who adores animals.

Allison keeps a low profile and keeps a lookout for her family but no one comes.

Isaac gets a job digging graves because Isaac that's why.

Altogether they do a pretty good job of hitting the ground running and Derek isn't so afraid anymore of them slipping back into the gray roads again. Soon they stop thinking about it much and get invested in their new lives. They're happy again. They've healed a lot and they're continuing to heal. And they're done with running.

* * *

 _ **Review Please! Review junkie writer needs her fix!**_

 _ **Seriously though tell me what you think cause I know this one's strange.**_

 _ **-Thousandsmiles.**_


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